Wednesday, August 29, 2012

I'm so, so excited to share this with you! When I pinned this headboard a long time ago, it was one of those "it'd be cool, but we probably won't actually do it" kind of pins. Well, this past weekend, we actually did it!

I love the colors!

I love the coordination with the new bedding.

Like a quilt, it's certainly not perfect, but that's another thing that makes it great!

Love, love, love it!

It's relatively easy to make. The most difficult thing is using the staple gun! You can handle that, right? You could even do it in more subtle colors. Imagine some neutral tones or all solid fabric. Sounds pretty too!

Note: these instructions are for a queen size bed.

Here's what you'll need:

2 sheets of plywood (4ft x8 ft is what we bought I believe; the original post says to use 1/4 inch but we used 3/8 inch).

Some type of saw (a table saw will probably work best)

High density foam (I bought 3 1/2 yards measuring 2 ft across)

Quilt batting (I used extra-loft; I bought the crib size-45"x60"-and it wasn't quite enough, so you may want to buy bigger unless you have some left over from another project like I did)

Update 12/28/12: I actually had a yard and 1/3 of two of my fabrics and 1 yard of the other two fabrics. Thanks to a commentor below for catching that mistake!

Scissors

Staple gun and staples (you don't want your staples to be too long or it will be harder to get them to sink into the wood)

Heavy duty tape

Drill & screws (be sure your screws are long enough to attach both layers of plywood to each other but won't go all the way through to the other side)

Ring hooks (at least 2)

Cut one sheet of plywood to measure 60"x40" You could even do less than 40 on the second measurement if you need to. My plywood ended up showing a little on the bottom.

Cut 40 8"x8" pieces of plywood.

Thanks so my husband and dad for cutting all the plywood for me!

Cut 40 8"x8" pieces of foam.

Cut 40 8"x8" pieces of batting.

Cut 40 12"x12" pieces of fabric.

And now the real fun begins!

Assemble your patchwork pieces:

1) Start with a piece of 8"x8" inch plywood

2) Glue a piece of foam on top of that (just enough so it doesn't slide around). Make sure the foam's not overlapping too much-you can trim it if need be.

3) Add the batting. You can glue this a little too.

4) Place the three layers face down on a piece of 12"x12" fabric that is right side down

5) Pull the fabric over the edge of the wood and tight on one side.

6) Staple the fabric to the wood in the middle of that side

7) Repeat steps 5 & 6 for all four sides making sure not to pull too tightly

8) Pull the fabric up tight (but not too tight) and staple close to both corners on 1 side of the wood

9) On one corner of the same side fold the fabric sort of like a present and pull it up over the edge of the wood

10) Staple the fold in place. Repeat Steps 9 & 10 for the other corner on this side

11) Repeat steps 8-10 for the side opposite the one you just completed.

12) On the remaining two sides, pull the fabric tight and over the edge of the wood until the fabric is smooth on the side. Staple in place.

You should have something that looks like this:

Repeat that process until you have 40 patchwork pieces.

Arrange your pieces in the pattern you'd like. I went for a random look. Normally, I go for order and patterns and things being all lined up, but this was an adventure, so random it was!

I managed to not take pictures of the next steps...oops! Let me know if you have questions, but I'll try to explain.

Flip all your pieces face down while maintaining your pattern (I put a sheet down so I was sure they wouldn't get dirty). Line up the pieces carefully (we lined up the wood edges) and tape them together.

Place your large piece of plywood over the patchwork pieces and screw them together at 8 inch intervals so that you get a screw in each patchwork piece.

Monday, August 27, 2012

I consider myself a beginner when it comes to crocheting. I've only crocheted scarves up to this point, but when I saw the pattern for this tote, I really wanted to try it! It's so fun and cheery. So, I printed out the pattern and went for it.I'm so glad I did! It certainly wasn't like crocheting a scarf, but I wouldn't call it difficult either (the pattern is actually marked as "easy", so I should have known I'd be ok). Even the handles...

...which I worried about until I got up to them, weren't all that difficult.If you'd like to give it a try, you can find the pattern here on Lion Brand Yarn's website. You do have to sign up for an account, but it's free and totally worth it. You'll have access to lots and lots of patterns, and they don't pester you with too many emails (they do send a few, but I'm sure you could opt out of them). Oh, and I'm not getting paid to recommend their site. Other than having my email in their database, they don't even know I exist. :-)
A couple little notes about the pattern:

The tote is worked in the round, but if you've never done that before, don't worry! I hadn't either, but I think the pattern explained it pretty well.

I was a bit rusty crocheting and had a little difficulty with the hdc2tog stitch at first. I found this video to be very helpful.

If you have trouble with any other stitches, I'd just Google the stitch and videos should come up explaining them. A cashier at JoAnn's told me that when I first started crocheting, and it's been a great tip!

Friday, August 24, 2012

First up are these Sugar Cookie Bars from High Heels & Grills. Aren't they beautiful? I'm sure they're super tasty too. I'm seriously considering breaking my diet to make some...maybe I could make a half recipe. Then it won't be so bad if I eat the whole pan, right?

We're going on a long road trip (Colorado to California) in October, so I've been keeping my eye out for portable toys. This Cozy Car Caddy from Homemade By Jill looks perfect! It would be great to have when stopping to get something to eat or in the evening at the hotel. I'm also considering making it for a Christmas present. Either way, it's super cute!

This great tip from Posed Perfection on Cleaning Stainless Steel Appliances has been amazing. It really helps get those hand and foot prints off the fridge. And, yes, I said foot--I have a two year old; need I say more? Click on over to see her tip. I'll give you a hint, though: you probably already have what you need in your kitchen.

Finally, we have these colorful and fun Rainbow Pancakes from I Am Baker. I cheat and use Bisquick for my pancakes (shhhh, don't tell anyone), but there is a recipe linked in the post, if you'd like to go the totally from scratch route. Aren't they fun? My little guy thought they were pretty cool.

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Many times I create a border by layering papers. Sometimes, though, a simple card with no layering is all I need. I still wanted to add some dimension to this card, though, so I added a "faux" border and a 3D butterfly. It's really, really easy. Here's how you can make your own.Start with a base card measuring 5.5x8.5 inches and fold/score it in half.Cut a scrap piece of paper measuring 5.25x4 inches (if you'd like a thicker border, make this piece smaller).Center the scrap piece of paper on your folded base.

Ink up a sponge or similar tool (you could use a cotton ball) with the ink of your choice.

While holding the scrap piece of paper in place, sponge/rub the ink onto the exposed portion of your base until it is entirely covered. Be sure not to let your scrap piece of paper slide around at all.Remove the scrap piece of paper and you should have something that looks like this:

Your border is complete, so now we'll stamp the sentiment. You can do anything you like. Mine was "thank you" in this case. I used the same ink as the border.

Time for the butterfly! Cut a piece of white paper just big enough for the butterfly. Stamp the butterfly in the same ink. Use a 3D Crystal Lacquer and let it dry.

I like to use this 3D Crystal Lacquer. You just have to be careful to keep the applicator tip nice and clean.

Next, cut out your butterfly.

Attach it to the card base using a dimensional adhesive (I use these).

The first step? Getting rid of those blue and teal(ish) walls! I can't just paint a room just one color though. Oh, no, that's just not fun! (My dad thinks I'm crazy with all my different colors in the house). So what would be fun to do? Ombre walls! I wanted them to be a little blended together, though, because I have ombre walls in another room of the house that have defined sections (you can see them a littlehere).I thought I'd figure it out on my own and then post a tutorial, but I had a hard time getting it to work. I went searching, searching, searching for help, and finally, came across this technique from Lowes. It worked great! There was still a little trial and error getting my technique down, but it turned out fabulous!

There's still more work to be done before the room is finished, but we're off to a good start!

Thursday, August 16, 2012

What kid doesn't love a good marble track? I know my little guy gets a big kick out of them. This one is really simple; all you need is tape, a cereal box (or two), scissors or a knife, and marbles.Check out some of the marble track action:

My little guy just LOVES playing with this marble track!

Want to make your own? Head over to Made By Joel for the instructions. It's super easy!

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Notice anything different on my sidebar? Yep. I joined Instagram! I didn't really "get" it before, but I wanted to see the pictures people were posting for #shereadstruth. Seeing the pictures with that tag has been awesome, but I had no idea how cool Instagram is and how much fun I would have with it!Do you want to learn how to add an Instagram feed to your blog? It's really, really easy. I did a Google search (read this blog post) and looked at Vintage Gwen's feed and found SnapWidget. It's free and there are several of options to customize how your feed is displayed.First go to SnapWidget's website.

Fill out your information.Username: that's your Instagram username (i.e. takingtimetocreate)Hashtag: you could also do a feed of pictures that people have tagged with a certain phraseSlideshow: choose yes if you want your feed to look something like mine but choose no if you just want still pictures; if you choose no you'll probably want to display more than one picture at a time.Thumbnail size: this is the size of the picture(s).

To determine what thumbnail size you should choose follow these steps:

Find out what size your sidebar is (if that's where you're putting the feed)

In Blogger you can find the size by going to Template>Customize>Adjust Widths

Choose a size that is smaller that will allow the feed to fit inside your sidebar. If you're going to allow padding and a photo border, be sure to allow for that in your size. My sidebar is set at 310 px, so I chose 275 px as my thumbnail size.

Layout: choose how many pictures you'd like to be displayed at once. (if you only want one, fill it out as 1x1)Photo Border: choose yes or noBackground Color: I think this one is pretty self explanatory. I just left it blank, so it would be transparent.Photo padding: this is the amount of space between each photo; it's most useful if you're displaying more than one photo at a time.Hover Effect: effect applied when someone hovers over a photoHere's a look at how I filled out mine (can you see it? I know it's a little light):

You can select "Preview" at the bottom to make sure everything looks ok. Then, close that window and click on "Get Code". Select and copy the code in the new window that pops up.Now we're almost done! Head over to Blogger>Layout. Click to "Add a Gadget" and choose the "HTML/Javascript" gadget (you'll have to scroll down a little to find it).

Choose a title (or leave it blank). Paste the code in the "Content" box and click "Save".Drag the "Intagram" box until it's where you want it in your layout.

Preview the layout if you'd like. Click "Save Arrangement" and then view your blog to make sure it looks right.

That's all folks! I hope these instructions are easy to understand, but if you have ANY questions, please don't hesitate to ask. I'll do my best to help!If you've joined Instagram, I'd love to follow you. Just let me know where I can find you (in the comments or you can send an email to takingtimetocreate@gmail.com) You can find me here: @takingtimeinthecity. It's just so much fun!